Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Ants in the Worm Bin

I am risking the wrath of I know it is you, Ed a commenter by posting this, but it worked and no worms were harmed. A while back fire ants had set up a colony in my compost bin. I used diatomaceous earth to kill many of them. The rest moved. This weekend I discovered they had moved into my worm bin. I dusted the top with DE, but was afraid to disturb the bin contents too much. I have read that fire ants hate molasses and cinnamon and have tried both with limited success in evicting fire ants. This time I used both. A cheap bottle of cinnamon from the dollar store and a bottle of molasses were applied to the bin and watered in well. I am happy to report that the ants moved on. While, I know they will show up someplace else, I am happy they are gone from the compost pile and worm bin. I can use more direct methods outside of the bins. I want to harm as few the good bugs as possible. After the molasses and cinnamon, the worms looked particularly fat, active and healthy.

Worm poo is very good poo. I put rabbit poo in the worm bin along with kitchen scrap and the resulting castings are wonderful for plants. A tea made from these castings is a great foliar feed as well.

Curmudgeon, You gotta get some worms. I have had them for about four years. You may want to take a look at the worm castings Wing Nut brought home. If you see little yellowish, tear drop shaped things in it. Those are worm eggs. You may have worms already.

Foxy, I know several gardeners who have chickens. Maybe not completely free range. I intend to garden and have chickens. I want a chicken tractor. I love to teach gardening and will be happy to give you all the free advise you really could do without my friend:)

Hey Debbi, thanks for mentioning Poor Richard's Almanac! Worm bins are about the most fun you can have (if you don't count chickens), and as you say, the castings are THE best. But I'm shocked that the fire ants hate molasses! We don't have fire ants up here, but I thought ants loved sweet, sticky stuff. I hate molasses myself, so I'm glad to hear that someone finally found a good use for it!

Cinnamon! I knew I used something odd last year and it worked. Tried to figure out what it was. My poor brain came up with vinegar. No, I told myself, that's for dog urine. Thought of baking soda. No, that didn't sound right either. Tis cinnamon, so thank you for kicking it into my brain. As for poo, I don't worry. I have pets that provide enough poo for the gardens and I don't even have to touch it.Brenda

Good for you. I wondered if it worked. I read about keeping the fire ants out of beehives with that mix and they claimed it worked. They pour the mixture around the base of the hives and have had success with the process.